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Monte del Grano Mausoleum: the mystery of the tomb as large as a hill
What from a distance appears to be a simple hill covered in olive trees is in reality a gigantic tumulus, the third largest in Rome after those of Augustus and Hadrian. Its name, Mausoleum of Monte del Grano, derives from its shape, an "inverted bushel of grain", as it was known in the Middle Ages. A monument stripped of its marble in the 14th century and crowned by a tower in the sixteenth, which to this day still conceals many secrets.
The mystery of the sarcophagus
The greatest mystery was uncovered at the end of the 16th century, when a magnificent sarcophagus was found inside, today housed in the Capitoline Museums. The figures on the lid were identified as Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother, Julia Mamaea. The case seemed solved. Yet subsequent studies disproved this hypothesis: the bricks of the structure date back to the era of Hadrian, approximately a century earlier, throwing the mystery of its ownership wide open once again.
An owner without a name
Who lay in such a sumptuous tomb? Even without a name, the monumentality of the building and the richness of the sarcophagus leave no doubt: it must have been a member of the very highest rank within the imperial family or the senatorial class. In all likelihood, a great cylinder of travertine originally supported the cone of earth and trees, in a style reminiscent of the celebrated Mausoleum of Augustus.
The mausoleum is located in Centocelle Park in Rome, and can be viewed from the outside.
